Before the Ever After: A Moment's Notice
by Haely Potter
Summary: Interlude in the Before the Ever After 'verse covering the 50th anniversary. Will have a surprise camo!


A/N: Busy two months! As some of you may know, I moved to England just before New Year, and have been settling in. I've been writing this, the next two chapters of Before the Ever After and the second part of Hope to my Bending the Universe 'verse (it's called Lost No More...)

Anyway, this is an interlude for my Before the Ever After story. It's basically the Day of the Doctor in that 'verse and gives you glimpses of Rose and the Doctor's future as seen by their present selves.

As for why I posted it as a separate story, well, it wouldn't actually fit in the actual story and would have no point since it won't be referenced to at all. But I wanted to post it anyway.

I suppose this could be read without having read Before the Ever After, but I promise it will make more sense if you've read it.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Rose watched from the edge of the forest as the Doctor rode from the TARDIS doors with Queen Elizabeth the First. He was romancing her to find out if she was an alien in disguise. (Ha! That'd be the day! One of the most important rulers in the history of England, an alien? Mickey and Martha and Jack and Donna and Sarah Jane would laugh their arses off!)

With a sigh she turned to wander in the forest. Just because it was necessary for gathering information, didn't mean she had to like seeing the Doctor flirt with another woman.

Leisurely she walked around until the Good Queen Bess ran past her like the hounds of hell were on her heels, clutching her dress and her red hair whipping behind her. That either meant what ever the Doctor had told her had frightened her very badly, or the alien had revealed itself and was not, in fact, the Queen. With a delighted grin Rose took running to the opposite direction of the Queen.

In a minute she came a to a clearing with three men, one of which was her Doctor and the two others weren't wearing period clothes.

The man standing next to the Doctor looked younger by about ten years even with the dressing style of a demented history professor. He had floppy looking dark brown hair and his trousers were slightly too short for him.

The man standing in front of them wore a leather jacket that reminded Rose of the Doctor when she first met him. He was older looking than the Doctor, his hair graying and face wrinkled. He had a strange scarf around his neck and a white beard obscuring his face.

Behind him was a golden, swirling vortex and she guessed he'd dropped from there.

"Good afternoon," the old man said cheerfully. "I'm looking for the Doctor."

"Well, you've certainly come to the right place," the Doctor said somewhat reluctantly.

"Good. Right," the old man paused for a second. "So who are you boys then? Oh, of course! Are you his companions? ("Companions?" asked the younger man incredulously.) They're getting younger all the time. Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor-"

Chuckling, Rose walked over to the Doctor and took his hand, cutting the older man off. "You are never living this down. You? Companion? You'd the worst companion ever," she told him and looked at the young man curiously as the Doctor spluttered out reasons why he'd make a superb companion. Now she could see his prominent chin and green eyes filled with love when he looked at her. There was also self hatred and anger and regret in them, in the same way she'd only known the Doctor to have. A future regeneration, possibly?

Having figured him out, she turned her attention to the older man. His leather jacket was more worn than her first Doctor's but the cut was the same. Underneath it he wore a velvet waist coat and an early 19th century button up shirt, like he was straight from a Jane Austen novel, if you ignored the weird utility belt he had going over his torso. He also had some early 19th century trousers on, as well as some very strange boots. He was a mix of the Doctor Rose first met and the Doctor before the Time War if Rose remembered correctly from her searching-for-the-Doctor days. His eyes though... they lacked the characteristic self-hatred she'd come to expect in the Doctor's eyes. Never accept, but expect. Those eyes had seen hatred and fear and dread and death, but they weren't the eyes of a man who'd knowingly destroyed his own people, who'd chosen to kill every man, woman and child of his species. He was the Doctor from the Time War.

"They're you," she said out loud, looking at her Doctor. "Doctor, they're both you."

The future Doctor grinned goofily at her. "Brilliant as always, Rose Tyler!" he exclaimed before the Doctor had a chance to react and leaned in front of the Doctor, pressing a chaste but intense kiss on her lips. The Doctor made a sound of protest and pulled her away from the future Doctor's wandering lips, one arm possessively around her shoulders.

"My Rose Tyler, get your own!" he complained loudly while Rose furrowed her brow at the future Doctor who winked at her.

"Nah, she's safe in the future, aren't you Rose?" the future Doctor called to the vortex.

"_For now, yeah,"_ Rose heard her future self calling. _"But jeopardy friendly, me, so I'm not so sure for how long..."_

"And I just left you with the mystery of the shattered paintings," moaned the future Doctor, slapping his forehead. "You'll be kidnapped and possibly tortured by the time I get back, won't you?"

"_Now stop your melodrama, dear. I've got Clara, Koschei, Kate and most of UNIT with me,"_ Rose's future self argued. _"I can take care of myself!"_

"Fat lot of good that'll do if there's an alien invasion! What if it's the-" here he made a clicking sound in the back of his throat. "Do you know how to fight aliens that are smaller than rain drops? I thought not!"

Rose took the opportunity the future Doctor's vocal argument with her future self offered and observed the past Doctor. He was staring at her with weary curiosity and recognition which she didn't understand. Yes, she'd run into past Doctor before, but they were all before the Time War. Had the Doctor managed to run into her before Henricks during the Time War? That was always possible but there hadn't been any recognition in the Doctor's eyes when he'd told her to run for the first time. And yet... and yet this younger Doctor recognised her for some reason. Hadn't he suppressed his memories of her like she'd asked? And yet... yet he didn't look at her like he knew her, just recognised her... Something strange was going on.

"Really? You're me?" he finally asked, drawing attention back to himself.

"Yeah," nodded the Doctor and held out his sonic as proof, the younger-older Doctor following his suit.

"Both of you?" the older-younger Doctor continued asking, his disbelief quite clear in his voice.

"Yup," the Doctor confirmed.

"Even that one?" the older-younger Doctor asked, not-so-subtly nodding to the future Doctor.

"Yes!" the younger-older Doctor said, dismayed that the past Doctor wouldn't accept him as the Doctor. "Rose even recognised me!"

"You are my future selves?" the older-younger Doctor asked one last time.

"Yes!" the Doctor and the future Doctor agreed at the same time.

"Am I having a midlife crisis?" the older-younger Doctor wondered and stepped closer to them.

This geared a synchronised reaction from the two Doctors who, in unison, pulled Rose behind them and pointed their sonic screwdrivers at the past Doctor. Rose couldn't understand why. She couldn't believe any Doctor would hurt an innocent when given the chance to avoid it, even the Doctor who fought in the Time War. Especially the one who fought in the Time War.

"Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols!" the older-younger Doctor chastised them and Rose snorted in amusement.

"Water pistols would be easier to deal with than setting 649f," she said smartly as the two Doctors glanced at each other uncertainly before lowering the sonics. "Makes you itch something terrible."

"You look like you've seen a ghost," the older-younger Doctor continued, giving her a curious glance again. The Doctor shifted so that he was in the way of the line of sight between the two, but Rose just moved to the side, standing next to him again rather than behind.

"Love the posh, gravely thing," commented the Doctor, fidgeting slightly. "It's very convincing," he told the younger-older Doctor.

"Brave words Dick Van Dyke," the future Doctor managed to comment before a score of medieval soldiers charged to the clearing.

"Encircle them," commanded a young man with a half-cape and a white neck brace.

Rose was immediately shuffled to the middle of the three Doctors, the Doctor obviously trusting himself more than the soldiers, even the Time War Doctor, while the older Doctors pulled out their sonics and pointed them wildly at the soldiers.

"Which of you is the Doctor?" the neck brace man demanded. "The Queen of England is bewitched and I would have the Doctor's head."

"Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day," said the War Doctor and Rose couldn't hold in her snort when she didn't hear any sarcasm in his voice, earning herself a reproachful glance from the Doctor.

"_I think there's three of them now,"_ a new female voice said from the vortex.

"_There's a precedent of that," _another new female said.

"_Shush, I'm listening,"_ Rose heard herself say.

This obviously drew the attention of the soldiers and their commanding officer. "What is that?" he asked, looking suspiciously at the vortex.

Both older Doctors' sonics were now pointed solely on him as they determined him to be the most dangerous of the lot surrounding them.

"Oh, not the pointing again!" groaned the past Doctor. "They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"Haven't tried that one before," giggled Rose. The War Doctor was funny. "Might work as a distraction though."

"That thing... What witchcraft is it?" the neck brace man asked again.

Rose saw the second the future Doctor got an idea and he winked at her when he saw her watching him.

"Ah! Yes! Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft!" he announced loudly and made his way under the vortex. "Yes, yes, yes! Witchy witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there. Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the Wicked Witch of the Well?"

"_He means you,"_ the older new female voice said on the other side of the vortex.

"_Why am I the witch?"_ complained the younger new female voice.

"Clara?" cajoled the future Doctor.

"_Hello?"_

"Clara, hi, hello. Hello," the future Doctor repeated himself and turned back to the soldiers. "Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"_What... he said,"_ Clara said hesitantly.

"Yes, a tiny bit more colour," the exasperated future Doctor sighed to the vortex.

"_Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs,"_ said Clara haltingly.

"Ooh, frogs. Nice," the future Doctor told the soldiers, somewhat smugly and Rose and the Doctor nodded along seriously, like this Clara from the future had any real way of turning them into frogs. "You heard her."

"_Doctor, what's going on?"_ Clara asked.

"_The Doctor is meeting with two of his past selves and a past me,"_ Rose heard herself explain it to the girl. _"It's all very timey-wimey."_

The past Doctor looked at Rose incredulously, like he didn't know what to make of her. "Timey-what? Timey-wimey?"

The Doctor leaned closer to him. "I've no idea where she picks this stuff up."

Both the future Doctor and Rose looked at him with arched eyebrows. _If you want any for the next year, you better correct that_, was the clear message in their identical looks and he turned back to his past self. "It was from me and Five," he corrected himself quickly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Then someone who looked like Queen Elizabeth entered the clearing and the soldiers fell to their knees, chanting "The Queen."

"You don't seem to be kneeling," she commented, somewhat haughtily. "How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you?" the Doctor demanded. "What happened to the other one?"

She smirked. "Indisposed. Long live the Queen," she said with such confidence that Rose was quite certain she really was the real queen.

"Long live the Queen," the soldiers agreed in unison.

"Arrest these people," the Queen commanded. "Take them to the Tower."

"That is not the Queen of England, that's an alien duplicate!" announced the Doctor, sure of himself, but Rose saw the brief flash of pain in her eyes at the accusation and it supported her theory she really was Elizabeth.

"Yeah, that's something you tell humans who still have one foot in the Dark Ages," Rose berated him. "Humans who, by the way, won't have any space travel for about five hundred years and can't even imagine there is life on other planets. Now I wouldn't be surprised if we had to escape before they tried to burn us alive."

"And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked," the future Doctor said with a small sniff of distaste at the Doctor, putting an arm round Rose's shoulders.

"Oh shut up," the Doctor told him.

"Venom sacks in the tongue," the future Doctor pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

"Seriously, stop it," the Doctor snapped. "You're upsetting Rose!"

The future Doctor paused and opened his mouth to retaliate when he closed it abruptly and turned to the Queen. "No, hang on. The Tower. Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant! Love the Tower!" he said, flapping his hands excitedly. "Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?"

The past Doctor frowned at him. "Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?"

"Yes," the Doctor agreed and then shook his head, realising what he'd just said, and corrected himself while flapping his hands again. "No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes, Granddad and Bad Wolf."

The other Doctors protested their nicknames.

"Granddad?" asked the youngest Doctor.

"They're not shandshoes," insisted the Doctor.

The past Doctor looked down at his feet and snorted "Yes they are."

"Silence. The Tower is not to be taken lightly," demanded the Queen. "Very few emerge again."

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The two older Doctors sniped at each other the whole way to the Tower, making the Time War Doctor roll his eyes at Rose who sent him a long suffering smile in return. They were idiots but they were her beautiful idiots, and she loved them (or would love them) no matter the face they wore.

"Come on, you lot, get in there," said the warden and pushed Rose in roughly, closing the door after her. She lost her balance for a moment, but the Doctor caught her.

"Hello," he said, looking down at her with a smile and pecked her lips.

"Hello," she smiled back as he helped her regain her balance.

"Three of us in one cell?" the future Doctor said, having picked something up from the floor and having started scratching something on a stone pillar. "That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon."

The Doctor looked over to him. "What are you doing?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Getting us out," answered the future Doctor like it was obvious.

Rose in turn looked at the past Doctor who was using his sonic screwdriver on the cell's wooden door. "The sonic won't work on that, it's wood and your sonics don't do wood."

"Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?" teased the future Doctor with an impish look on his face when he looked at her, having paused in his scratching of the stone pillar.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and drew Rose closer to himself, leaning on another stone pillar. "Okay, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon. But never mind that. Why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and Chinny, we were surprised, but you came looking for us," he said, looking at the past Doctor who had sat down. "You knew it was going to happen. Who told you?"

Rose saw his eyes flicker to another pillar and saw herself who had a finger on her lips. Her eyes widened as she took in the clothes and hair of the girl in front of her, because she really wouldn't dress like that, ever. Then the girl turned to her and her eyes flashed golden and Rose relaxed, knowing it wasn't anything _too_ dangerous.

"Oi!" the future Doctor protested the name the Doctor had given him. "Chinny?"

"Yeah, you do have bit of a chin," answered the Doctor with an unapologetic shrug.

"What have I told you?" asked Rose. "Be nice to yourself!"

"But Rose! He does!"

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Rose leaned against the Doctor, enjoying the feel of his arms around her like she'd been deprived for the last week as he was off with Elizabeth. Inwardly she snorted. It was as though they couldn't ever meet a young historically important woman without them falling in love with the Doctor. First Madame de Pompadour, then Cleopatra and now Elizabeth the first. At least Queen Victoria had been old and still completely in love with her dead husband and had thought them mad.

She opened her eyes. The future Doctor was still scratching his message to the stone pillar and the past Doctor was looking at the cell door speculatively, glancing at his sonic from time to time.

"In theory," he said and turned around, "I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate."

The Doctor shook his head. "We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to sub-atomic level. Even with the sonic it would take years."

"No, no, the sonic would take centuries," the past Doctor shook his head and sat down. "Oh, we might as well get started. Help to pass the timey-wimey." He looked at them with a furrowed brow. "Do you have to talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown up?" The two older Doctors turned to look at him and Rose could easily see the dread in their eyes. The dread and fear and pain and guilt. "Oh, the way you both look at me. What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than dread. And the young Rose, your eyes are so full of mourning when you look my way. Why is that?"

"It must be really recent for you," the Doctor said, voice almost choked by his emotions.

"Recent?" asked the past Doctor.

"The Time War," the future Doctor said gravely, having stopped scratching a little while before. "The last Day. The day you killed them all."

"The day _we_ killed them all," the Doctor corrected him and pressed his face to Rose's hair, pulling her even closer than before. She went willingly and squeezed him, like she'd done on that one night.

"Same thing," answered the future Doctor dully, eyeing Rose with a sort of longing.

"**It's history for them,"** Rose heard her voice say, more breathy than she'd ever heard it. **"All decided. They think their future is real. They don't know it's still up to you. But Rose can tell, you know. She knows you. All of you."**

"I don't talk about it," the past Doctor said and to Rose it sounded almost like a question.

"You're not talking about it," answered the Doctor. "There's no one else here and Rose knows all about it."

"**Go on, ask them. Ask them what you need to know,"** the Bad Wolf encouraged the past Doctor.

"Did you ever count?" he asked, looking at them.

"Count what?" asked the future Doctor, having turned back to his scratching.

"How many children there were on Gallifrey that day," specified the past Doctor.

The Doctor tensed around Rose, his grip becoming vice-like, and the future Doctor stopped scratching the wall.

"I have absolutely no idea," the future Doctor said, voice flippant, but Rose heard the bitter under tone, like when he talked about a nightmare he tried to forget.

"How old are you now?" the past Doctor asked, frowning again.

"Ah, I don't know," answered the future Doctor. "I've lost track. Twelve hundred and something, I think, unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am. And Rose stopped counting her birthdays after forty, said any more would make her feel old so I can't ask her either."

"Four hundred years older than me, and in all that time you've never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?"

The future Doctor used more force than necessary in his scratching before he whirled around angrily. "Tell me, what would be the point?"

In a way Rose could see where he was coming from but she wouldn't accept it. "Two point four seven billion," she and the Doctor said at the same time, arms wrapped around each other for support and to ward away unwanted feelings.

"You did count!" the past Doctor crowed triumphantly.

"You forgot?" the Doctor asked his future self with disbelief. "Four hundred years, is that all it takes?"

"He hasn't forgotten," Rose told him with a low voice, "but he's tried to."

"I moved on," the future Doctor snapped at the Doctor.

"Where?" demanded the Doctor, releasing Rose and moving closer to the future Doctor. "Where can you be now that you can forget something like that?"

"Spoilers," warned the future Doctor gravely, voice breaking slightly.

Rose remembered someone else who'd said "spoilers" with a flirty grin and a teasing toss of her hair and a possessive look at the Doctor, heartbreak mixed with it all. River Song was part of their future, the Doctor's future, and while she had been friendly enough to Rose and close to reverent to Donna, she hadn't been all that warm to them. Once even, Rose was sure, she had looked at her with something akin to cool calculation, as if trying to decide which kind of weapon to use on her to cause the most damage.

"No. No, no, no," the Doctor denied. "For once I would really like to know where I'm going."

"No, you really wouldn't," answered the future Doctor, his eyes flickering to Rose briefly, his gaze so full of pain and regret that she just wanted to give him a hug.

"I don't know who you are, either of you," the past Doctor said, making Rose jump. She'd forgotten he was there. "I haven't got the faintest idea."

"**They're you. They're what you become if you destroy Gallifrey. The man who regrets and the man who forgets,"** the Bad Wolf said poetically. **"The Moment is coming. The Moment is me. You have to decide."**

"No," he said resolutely.

"No?" parroted the Doctor, frowning at him.

"Just, no," he repeated, stronger this time.

The future Doctor began to laugh.

"Is something funny?" the Doctor asked, moving around Rose with agitated energy, unable to stay still. "Did I miss a funny thing?"

"Sorry," said the future Doctor with a slight chuckle. "It just occurred to me. This is what I'm like when I'm alone. Well, with Rose, but I don't count her, she knows me better than I know myself most days."

The Doctor stopped and leaned against a pillar, playing with his screwdriver absently. Rose wandered over to the future Doctor to see what he was scratching but decided a string of numbers wasn't particularly exciting.

"**It's the same screwdriver,"** the Bad Wolf said and Rose turned to look at her sharply. **"Same software, different case."**

She didn't understand and turned to look at the past Doctor who looked at his sonic screwdriver with a growing realisation.

"Four hundred years," he breathed and slapped his forehead.

"I'm sorry?" asked the Doctor.

"At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they. Same software, different case," the past Doctor asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," agreed the Doctor slowly.

"So," prompted the future Doctor as he took out his sonic.

"So it would take centuries for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door," the past Doctor said, looking at the door again, scanning it with his sonic. "Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and," he turned around, "if you really are me, with your sandshoes and your dickie bow, and that screwdriver is still mine, that calculation is still going on."

With pleasure Rose watched realisation dawn on the Doctor's face as he brought the screwdriver to his ear, listening intently, face breaking into a smile. "Yeah, still going."

The future Doctor then looked at his sonic. "Calculation complete," he declared with genuine happiness, once again impressed with himself.

"**Same software, different face,"** Rose heard the grin in Bad Wolf's voice and matched it with her own, hugging the past Doctor who, after a slight start at being hugged, hugged her back tightly.

"Hey, four hundred years in four seconds," the future Doctor declared when Rose let the past Doctor go. "We may have had our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances," he said, pointing his sonic at the Doctor, grinning widely, "but I tell you what, boys. We are incredibly clever."

The cell door was pushed open by a dark haired woman even shorter than Rose and a Rose with natural brown hair instead of the bleached blond she favored right now. The future Rose also wore boots with a few centimeter high heels, not much but enough to give her a small boost in height. She had on a loose poet shirt not laced up completely, reaching the top of her thighs, and a vest matching the future Doctor's jacket on top of it. She had on tight black trousers from 24th century if Rose had to guess, and a small golden necklace with some sort of symbol on it. Behind her stood the Master with a lazy grin, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

The Doctor immediately got into a defensive position when he saw him, pulling Rose behind him (again, she rolled her eyes).

"How did you do that?" asked the future Doctor, ignoring the Master.

"It wasn't locked," answered the dark brown haired woman who Rose now realised was Clara.

"Right..." said the Doctor awkwardly before turning to the future Rose. "And what sort of time do you call this?" he asked her, mock scolding her.

"Saving your arse -time," answered the future Rose pertly before going over to him and drawing him in for a long and proper snog.

Rose and the Doctor watched their future selves, both tilting their heads slightly to the right. Their dynamic was different. For one, the future Rose obviously controlled the kiss, keeping the future Doctor's head down so she could reach his mouth, and the future Doctor obviously liked it if the noises he made when the future Rose pulled on his hair were any indication. For another, they didn't seem all that bothered about having an audience. The Doctor normally preferred restrained shows of affection in public, like hand holding, hugs and chaste kisses, but their future selves were almost tearing off each other's clothes.

The Master cleared his throat meaningfully and finally the two broke apart, heaving. The future Doctor was grinning happily down at the future Rose and she, in turn, was smiling somewhat smugly, though no less happily.

"Three of you in once cell and none of you thought to try the door?" drawled the Master. He locked eyes with Rose. "Not even you Rose? I am disappointed."

"Oi! Don't blame me! I had my hands full with three Doctors!" protested Rose and shoved three fingers under his nose. "Three, I tell you!" She paused. "And the door should have been locked."

"Yes. Exactly. Why wasn't it locked?" frowned the future Doctor.

The Queen entered the cell. "Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping," she answered the future Doctor's question. "I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you see what's going to happen to it," she turned on her heel and led the motley crew away, the Doctor giving the Master weary glances, even when he ignored him completely, escorting the future Rose between himself and the future Doctor.

They followed the Queen to another part of the Tower's dungeons which was filled with alien technology.

"The Zygons lost their own world. It burned in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required," the Queen said and Rose felt the Doctor tense up again, his hand squeezing hers.

"So they want this one?" scoffed the Master with a sneer. "It's too primitive for anything yet."

"Exactly," agreed the Queen. "Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort which this world doesn't have... yet."

One of the Zygons approached the group. "Commander, why are these creatures here?" it asked in a gravely voice. Rose had to stomp on the urge to ask if all Zygons sounded like that or if this particular one smoked a strong brand of cigarettes.

Elizabeth smiled condescendingly at it. "Because I say they should be. It is time you too were translated." She turned to her guests. "Observe this. I believe you will find it fascinating."

The Zygon put his hand on a transparent cube with rounded edges and vanished. A second later a form appeared in a 3D painting. Rose shook her head slightly. 3D paintings weren't the strangest thing she'd run across with the Doctor and the TARDIS had a few such paintings, but they never ceased to amaze her.

"That's him!" said Clara with wide eyes, walking closer to the picture. "That's the Zygon in the picture now."

"It's not a picture, it's a stasis cube," corrected the past Doctor and Rose smiled, leaning against the Doctor's shoulder. She loved his technobabble. "Time Lord art. Frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside, but could be deployed as-"

"Suspended animation," the Doctor jumped in excitedly. "Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and out they come."

"You see Clara," the future Doctor took over the explanation, "they're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like cup-a-soups. Except you add time, if you can picture that. Nobody could picture that. Forget I said cup-a-soups."

"Started well that analogy," the future Rose teased him.

"It got away from me, yeah," he agreed with a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck.

"And now the world is worth conquering," said Clara faintly. "So the Zygons are invading the future from the past."

"Exactly," agreed the future Doctor.

Then the Doctor turned away to face the Queen. "And do you know why I know that you're a fake? Because you're such a bad copy. It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close together, or the breath that could stun a-"

"Doctor," Rose interrupted him, face palming, "you're being extraordinarily rude to the actual Elizabeth. For one, no one would be stupid enough to reveal their own plan. Well, most people wouldn't, but if it wasn't your plan, you could easily reveal it, couldn't you, your Majesty?" she flashed a grin at the young monarch. "And this is the Queen you're talking about. I'm sure she has some sort of defense against surprise attacks. Vicky did."

"Indeed," agreed the Queen. "My twin is dead in the forest. I am accustomed to taking precautions," she said and lifted her skirt, revealing a dagger strapped in her garter. She drew it out and held it rather viciously. "These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived rather than their own commander. The arrogance that typifies their kind."

"Zygons?" asked Clara.

"Men," clarified the future Rose with a roll of her eyes.

"And you actually killed one of them?" asked Clara with awe, looking at the Queen.

"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon," she answered, returning Clara's smile before turning to the Doctor. "The future of my kingdom is imperiled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?"

"Well, I'm going to need my TARDIS," the Doctor answered, blinking slightly confusedly at the women around him.

"It has been procured already," the Queen answered with a flirty smile.

"Ah," the Doctor grinned happily.

"But first, my love, you have a promise to keep," she continued smiling.

The Doctor's smile froze on his face as he looked at her. Rose couldn't help snickering behind her hand at her husband's discomfort. Served him right!

Beside, it wasn't like the marriage would actually be valid. He was already married, he was an alien, they didn't marry according to his people's tradition and he was a time traveler. He'd be a widow sixty years into the future, and Rose had a feeling they'd be returning to 2013 soon.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Still, she didn't stay to watch the ceremony and headed straight inside the TARDIS to change out of her peasant's dress. It was itchy!

After a quick shower and getting dressed in her own clothes again she made her way to the console room where she found the Doctors, Clara, her future self and the Master. She walked right up to him.

"So what's your story? Last time I saw you, you were bleeding dry on the Valiant," she told him frankly, arching an eyebrow.

"I believe the term you'd use is, ah, spoilers," he said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "But I can tell you, we'll have a very nice decade getting to know each other without the Doctor interfering all the time," he leered at her.

Someone slapped the back of his head and both Rose and the Master turned to the future Rose. "Ah hah, no telling me my future, Koschei." She used the name "Koschei" like one would say "pet," and the Master blushed.

"Yes ma'am," he mumbled and hugged her middle from behind, hiding his face in her neck, and he was actually short enough to do it comfortably.

The future Rose noticed Rose's staring and shrugged. "I guess everyone needs hobbies. Apparently ours is collecting slightly psychotic Time Lords and taming them," she said, running her hand through the Master's hair.

Rose shook her head in wonder and worry. "What happened to you?"

"A decade with Jack and Koschei when the Doctor was plotting on how to survive a fixed point in time in which he died. Jack was a well of knowledge and I needed every trick he told me about to just control Koschei here. But he learned his lesson."

"I thought the drums were what caused his psychosis?" pointed out Rose.

"They did, but old habits die hard and all that," the future Rose answered. "He blew up the TARDIS once. Another time he allied with the dark part of the Doctor to cause as much mayhem as possible. Those were made mostly out of habit, if you can believe that."

Rose looked at the Master who, she thought, was now apparently licking the future Rose's neck.

"It's like he's now fixated on you," she commented. "Me, us, whatever."

"He is," nodded the future Rose. "We keep the drums away and that means nearly constant physical contact of some kind."

"So..." Rose tried to wrap her mind around the news she'd just had. "So soon I'll have a possessive Time Lord and a clingy Time Lord. What could possibly go wrong?" she asked sarcastically.

The future Rose snickered. "Oh, you would not believe me if I told you. Everything from sleeping arrangements to breakfast to destinations to courses of action."

Rose shuddered to even think of it.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Watching humans and Zygons negotiate the perfect treatise while not knowing if they're human or Zygon was more boring than Rose had thought. From the corner of her eye she saw the two young women figure out who was who but deciding to keep it a secret.

Slowly she made her way to the notice board dedicated to the Doctor's companions. Some of them she knew by face from pictures the Doctor had showed her, some she only knows by name from his stories and some she'd met. Pictures of her and her first Doctor, apparently salvaged from the security footage from Van Statten's bunker, was pinned up with with a picture of her and the Doctor from CCTV somewhere in London, eating chips and chatting as well as a picture of the future Rose, the Master, a red haired young woman, a sandy haired, distantly familiar young man and the future Doctor having a picnic in some park. There were pictures of Martha and Donna and Jack and Sarah Jane. Of Astrid and Mr. Copper and Harriet Jones and even Adam. There was Clara with two children, Susan, Jamie... Everyone, really.

Rose felt insignificant when she looked at the collection of photos of the Doctor's companions.

What had she done to earn the right to run with the Doctor for the rest of her life?

Most of the people in the pictures had loved the Doctor, one way or another. How was she any different?

Yes, she loved him and had fought her way back to him and would remain most likely alive for hundreds of years, but other than that, what had she done?

"Nothing, you were just yourself," said the future Doctor behind her and she turned to him, surprised. He stepped up to stand next to her. "You sometimes forget I know you as well as you know me. And right now you've got that I-don't-know-what-I-did-to-deserve-this face on. Not to be confused with What-the-HELL-did-I-ever-do-to-the-Universe-to-deserve-this-insufferable-alien-as-my-husband face, though it is sometimes remarkably similar."

Rose groaned. "Everyone is always saying that, that being myself is the best you can do to find someone who loves you, but what ever do you see in me? What made me stand out from all the other humans and other species you've ever met? Because, when I look in the mirror, I still see the nineteen-year-old shop girl with no A-levels and without a future. I know I'm not exactly that girl anymore, but that's what I was when we met."

Gently the future Doctor turned her to look at him. "Rose Tyler... I love saying Rose Tyler. Did you know it became one of my favorite things the first time I said it, back when I was all big ears and leather jackets? Anyway, Rose Tyler... don't you dare say you were only a shop girl with no future. You were... _fantastic_ in a way no one else has ever been. You asked questions. You didn't take my crap. You were brave. You were loyal even when you barely knew me. You dreamed big, didn't you, Rose? Dreamed big when you were folding those shirts in the shop. And you cared. You cared so much right from the beginning. You were like the first ray of sunshine after a long and dark winter. It didn't take you all that long to worm your way into my cold and broken hearts and become the centre of my Universe."

Rose's smile was bitter. "You're still going to marry River Song."

"Been there, done that, lived the paradox," answered the future Doctor flippantly, waving the topic away, and Rose knew it must be a painful subject for him. "But yes, it is in your Doctor's future. River... She quite effectively held the Universe hostage until I married her. Mind, I thought you dead at the time. I spent about a hundred years looking for you without any result and then I found you ten years after the wedding, living in Cardiff with Jack and Koschei..." He trailed off, looking at the future Rose with the Master draped all over her. "I was so jealous when I found them again. They had a decade of memories together that I could never share. They were so comfortable with each other and for a while I thought she didn't love me anymore... she was so hurt when I told her of my marriage to River... I was afraid she'd leave right then and there. Instead she stayed. It took us some time to repair our relationship but... in the end it's stronger for it. We're stronger."

Swallowing, Rose cleared her throat and blinked back her tears. "I told you, I'm never gonna leave you," she told him. "Not voluntarily."

The smile the future Doctor flashed her was bright and loving and sincere. "I know, you precious girl."

"He's gone!"

The shout drew everyone's attention to Clara who was looking at the empty chair the past Doctor had been sitting in just seconds before.

Rose and the future Doctor glanced at each other with raised eyebrows and walked over to Clara.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The TARDIS landed, softly for once, and the Doctor and Rose stepped outside, hand-in-hand, just like their future selves, Clara and the Master following them.

The past Doctor stood facing them, a big red button behind him.

"I told you, he hasn't done it yet," Clara whispered loudly.

"Go away now, all of you. This is for me," the past Doctor said gravely as he turned around to face the button.

"These events should be time-locked," the Doctor said, looking around. "We shouldn't even be here."

"So something let us through," countered the future Doctor and the future Rose winked at her past self, gesturing slightly to the Bad Wolf sitting on the crates.

"**You clever boys,"** said the Bad Wolf, smiling proudly.

"Go back," advised the past Doctor. "Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile."

"All these years, burying you in my memory," began the Doctor.

"Pretending you didn't exist," picked up the future Doctor. "Keeping you a secret, even from myself."

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else," the Doctor added.

"You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right," concluded the future Doctor as he walked around the past Doctor to face him.

The Doctor joined his two other selves. "But this time-" he said and laid his hand on top of the past Doctor's hand resting on the button.

"You don't have to do it alone," the future Doctor ended as he too rested his hand on the button.

The past Doctor hunched his shoulders slightly. "Thank you," he whispered.

"What we do today, is not out of fear or hatred," the Doctor said, looking at his other selves, and Rose walked over to him, taking hold of his hand. She would be there for him through this. "It is done because there is no other way."

"And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save," nodded the future Doctor solemnly.

The Master bounded over, interrupting the serious moment. "Me too! Me too!" he declared enthusiastically and slapped his hand with more force than needed on top of the future Doctor's.

"Rose," groaned the future Doctor. "He's losing it again."

"He does have a reason for wanting to do it, though," the future Rose answered pointedly but walked over and took the pouting Master's hand off of the button. "But you know, you now have an advantage the Daleks don't know."

"And what's that?" asked the future Doctor.

The future Rose grinned. "This time there's three of you."

Clara made a sniffling sound, making the future Doctor turn to her. "What? What is it? What?"

A tear made it's way down her cheek. "Nothing," she said weakly.

"No, it's something. Tell me," implored the future Doctor.

"You told me you wiped out your own people," she said haltingly. "I just. I never pictured you doing it, that's all."

"**Take a closer look,"** echoed Bad Wolf's voice and the reality around them shifted.

"What's happening?" asked Clara, looking around.

"Nothing, it's a projection," answered the past Doctor.

"**It's the reality around you,"** corrected Bad Wolf.

What they saw was horrible. There were fires everywhere, uncaring of what they were burning, be it people, buildings or toys. There people running around, trying to find some kind of shelter from the Daleks, pushing others out of their way, ignoring the smaller ones. Mothers losing their children right in front of them. Soldiers shooting back at the Daleks. Screams echoing around them, amplified by the projection.

"These are the people you're going to burn?" asked Clara, turning back to the future Doctor, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"There is nothing we can do," the Doctor answered finally, his hand spamming around Rose's and she could tell he was working hard to keep from openly crying.

"He's right," the future Doctor said, voice breaking. "There isn't another way. There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn."

"Look at you," Clara said, looking at the three Doctors. "The three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you."

"And what am I?" asked the future Doctor, stepping closer to Clara.

"You really are stupider than I thought," snorted the Master before the future Rose hushed him.

"Have you really forgotten?" asked Clara.

"Yes," answered the future Doctor. "Maybe, yes."

"We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero," she told him.

"Then what do I do?"

"What you've always done," answered Clara with a teary smile. "Be a Doctor. You told me the name you chose was promise. What was the promise?"

"Never cruel or cowardly," began the Doctor.

"Never give up, never give in," ended the past Doctor and the reality around them shifted back to the barn.

The future Doctor looked thoughtful.

"You're not actually suggesting we change out own personal history?" asked the Doctor, a hint of awe and fear in his voice.

"We change history all the time," pointed out the future Doctor. "I'm suggesting something far worse," he whispered, as if afraid they'd be over-heard.

"What, exactly?" the past Doctor whispered back.

The future Doctor straightened up and squared his shoulders. "Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind!" he declared with a smile, whipped out his sonic and closed the Moment, concealing the big red button.

"There are still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking," protested the past Doctor.

"Yeah, there is. There is," agreed the future Doctor, walking around, a grin on his face.

"He's finally lost it," the Master whispered loudly to the future Rose in awe.

The Doctor had joined in the excited movement and ran a hand down his face before turning to face the past Doctor. "But Rose said it. There is something those billion billion Daleks don't know."

"Because if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements," grinned the future Doctor.

"What?" asked Clara. "What don't they know?"

"This time, there's three of us," answered the future Doctor proudly.

The past Doctor was the first to react. "Oh!" he gasped ass his hands flew to his hair. "Oh, yes, that is good. That is brilliant!"

Then the Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, oh, oh, I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!" he declared to Rose, sweeping in for an overjoyed kiss, picking her up and twirling her around.

Rose melted at his undivided attention, kissing back just as joyfully, knowing exactly what it meant to him. It didn't matter if they didn't remember this after it was over as the future them didn't seem to remember, because right at this moment, they were going to save Gallifrey and the Doctor wouldn't be the last Time Lord.

"She didn't show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see!" shouted the past Doctor joyfully, making the Doctor and Rose pull apart, just the same as the future Doctor and the future Rose who had also been kissing enthusiastically.

"**Now you're getting it,"** Bad Wolf said happily from the top of the crates.

"Eh? Who did?" asked the future Doctor.

"Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you!" the past Doctor said and blew kisses all around the barn.

"**As you can see, that's going to happen,"** Bad Wolf teased.

"Sorry, did you just say Bad Wolf?" the Doctor asked with a slight frown, glancing at Rose who smiled innocently at him.

"So what are we doing? What's the plan?" asked Clara excitedly.

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly," the past Doctor told her.

"The Sky Trench is holding, but what if the whole planet just disappeared?" the Doctor jumped in on the explanation.

"Tiny bit of an ask," Clara said, reading Rose's mind quite effectively.

"The Daleks would be firing on each other. They'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire," the Doctor explained.

"Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other," the past Doctor finished with glee.

"But where would Gallifrey be?" asked Clara with concern.

"Frozen," answered the Doctor jubilantly. "Frozen in and instant of time, safe and hidden away."

"Exactly," nodded the future Doctor.

"Like a painting," the past Doctor finished, as if he was sharing a secret.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The Doctor seemed lighter than ever before as Rose watched him dance around the TARDIS console, getting ready to freeze Gallifrey. There was a spring in his steps that she'd never seen before, and, in a way, he was getting his people back, even if it would take him another four hundred years to reach the point in his life where he would know it.

Warmth filled her as she watched him coordinate with his other selves, past and future. Her heart twinged when she heard his big eared, northern accented self and the selfish wish to see him one last time drove her behind the Doctor, wrapping her arms around him and leaning her chin on his shoulder. He leaned his head against hers and squeezed her hands around his middle, grinning broadly as he talked. There were eleven faces on the screen, more than a few of them familiar from her Doctor-searching days. There were the second, fifth, seventh and eighth Doctors, all of whom she'd met before, as well as the Time War Doctor, ninth Doctor and the future Doctor.

Her Doctor, all in one place, saving their planet.

It might give him his people back and enable him to visit home, but Rose had a feeling her future self (or her current self, thank you very much) wouldn't let him leave her behind again.

When it came time to actually do it, she backed away again, giving him the room to do what needed to be done. She heard the General's command and everyone's battle cries, from "Gallifrey Stands!" to "Geronimo!" The Doctor's enthusiastic "Allons-y!" was the loudest though.

The meeting point was at the National Gallery and they all came, the future Rose having prepared tea and biscuits for them. Rose and Clara sat on both sides of the past Doctor, watching the other two Doctor's drink their tea standing. Future Rose and the Master were exploring the rest of the Gallery because the Master had whined that he didn't want to speculate over the fate of the "fucking arse-hole wanker Time Lords" who had made him insane.

"I don't suppose we'll know if we actually succeeded," the past Doctor finally sighed. "But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

"Life and soul, you are," Clara frowned at him.

"Chin up, at least they didn't burn," comforted Rose, patting his shoulder.

"What is it actually called?" asked the Doctor, looking at the 3D painting of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city, being bombed by Daleks.

"Well, there's some debate," answered the future Doctor. "Either _No More_ or _Gallifrey Falls_."

"Not very encouraging," snorted the past Doctor.

"How did it get here?" frowned the Doctor, not taking his eyes off of the painting.

"No idea," answered the future Doctor honestly.

Rose caught the golden apparition in the corner, and Bad Wolf winked at her.

"There's always something we don't know, isn't there?" the Doctor shrugged and sipped his tea.

"One should certainly hope so," smiled the past Doctor. "Well, gentlemen, it has been an honour and a privilege," he told his future selves.

"Likewise," answered the Doctor with a small half-bow.

"Doctor," named the future Doctor with a similar half-bow.

"And if I grow to be half the man that you are," the past Doctor said, turning his back to his future selves and back to Rose and Clara, "Clara Oswald and Rose Tyler, I shall be happy indeed."

Clara laughed and stood up. "That's right, aim high," she said as she kissed his cheek.

Rose hugged him next. "Don't worry, you'll be fantastic," she told him with conviction, looking him in the eyes, willing for the love she felt for the Doctor to show in them. Any and every Doctor, she would love them. That was her promise.

He drew back from the hug to look at her again and gave a small nod. Then he turned and started to go back to his TARDIS, pausing after a few steps. "I won't remember this, will I?"

"The time streams are out of sync," answered the future Doctor sadly. "You can't retain it, no."

"So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it," the past Doctor realised. "I'll have to live with that. But for now," he said, shoulders back proudly, "I am the Doctor again. Thank you." He looked at the three TARDISes. "Which one is mine?"

The two older Doctors glanced at each other, like they fervently hoped he was joking.

"Ha!" chuckled the past Doctor, seeing their faces, and went to the shabbiest looking TARDIS. Seconds after the door closed, it dematerialised.

The Doctor turned his back to the future Doctor and set his cup down. Seriously he turned back to his future self. "I won't remember either, so you might as well tell me."

"Tell you what?" asked the future Doctor, hoping to avoid it.

"Where is it we're going that you don't want to talk about," answered the Doctor, proving to Rose he still knew himself slightly better than she did.

The future Doctor hesitated for a long while before speaking. "I saw Trenzalore, where we're buried. We die in battle among millions."

"That's not how it's supposed to be," said the Doctor quietly, hands clenching, and immediately Rose was there, a rock by his side.

"That's how the story ends," the future Doctor said, eyes now locked on Rose. "Nothing we can do about it. Trenzalore is where you're going."

Suddenly Rose could see two glowing bundles of light next to each other. One of them was notably smaller than the other, but sometimes it was brighter than the other was anywhere. Some of the pattern was the same, while it was different in others. Not far from them was a third bundle of lights, larger than the smaller bundle, but smaller than the larger bundle. That bundle seemed to continuously reach for the smaller bundle.

And then she was back in the National Gallery and she had no idea what she'd seen.

"Oh, never say nothing," shrugged the Doctor. "Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands." He wiggled his eyebrows at the future Doctor and turned to Clara. "Help Rose keep him on a leash, won't you Clara?"

She mock saluted him. "On it," she winked at him and offered her hand for a hand shake.

The Doctor took it and used it to pull her in for a hug. Rose used this time to hug the future Doctor.

"See you later," he told her.

She grinned at him. "Not if I see you first."

This made him laugh as Rose went over to Clara to hug her too. "I suppose I'll see you in a few hundred years."

"Yes, but I'll see you in a matter of minutes," answered Clara, smiling.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS door, hesitated and turned around. "Trenzalore," he finally said. "We need a new destination, because I don't want to go."

"You can plan on it later," answered Rose, slapping him on the back. "After taking care of my wifely needs, for example. I have barely seen you for a week," she said and pushed him inside the TARDIS and started the dematerialisation process.


End file.
